Timescales for exploratory tactical behaviour in football small-sided games

The aim of this study was to identify the dynamics of tactical behaviour emerging on different timescales in football small-sided games and to quantify short- and long-term exploratory behaviour according to the number of opponents. Two teams of four professional male footballers played small-sided games against two different teams with a variable number of opponents (3, 5 and 7). Data were collected using a combination of systematic observation and a non-differential global positioning system (15 Hz). The temporal diversity and structural flexibility of the players were determined by calculating the dynamic overlap order parameter q, entropy and trapping strength. Analysis of the exploratory dynamics revealed two different timescales, forming a different metastable landscape of action for each constraint. Fast dynamics lasted on average a few seconds and consisted of changes in tactical patterns. The long timescale corresponded to the shared tasks of offence and defence lasting tens of seconds. The players’ tactical diversity decreased with an increasing number of opponents, especially in defence. Manipulating numerical imbalance is likely to promote changes in the diversity, unpredictability and flexibility of tactical solutions. The fact that the temporally nested structure of constraints shaped the emergence of tactical behaviour provides a new rationale for practice task design. The manipulation of numerical imbalance on the timescale of a few tens of seconds, on which the exploratory behaviour of players saturates, may help coaches to optimise the exploratory efficiency of the small-sided games.     

Innovative moments and narrative change in career counselling: a case study

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - This case study of an undecided university student has two aims: to assess the effect of life design career counselling on...     

Reasons for suboptimal learning in medical microbiology

Medical microbiology presents a challenge to undergraduate students, mostly due to its extensive content and complexity of unfamiliar terminology. In addition to a narrative review of the literature, we report findings on students’ motivation for and approach to learning in the Infections module of an undergraduate medical curriculum, and their perceived lack of retention of knowledge acquired in the module, as determined by a self-administered, anonymous questionnaire. When students experienced information overload, they reverted to performance goals and the wrong motivation for learning. Their focus turned primarily to being successful in tests and examinations, and they consequently adopted a surface approach to learning. Surface learning and memorisation of facts without understanding its content usually result in moderate retention of knowledge, which could handicap the development of clinical reasoning. However, the concern about students’ perceived poor retention of knowledge can be laid to rest – the prognosis is not discouraging after all.     

Discrimination and Ethnic–Racial Identity: Understanding Direction of Effects Using Within- and Between-Person Analyses

Ethnic–racial identity (ERI) development and ethnic–racial discrimination are two salient experiences among adolescents in the United States. Despite growing awareness of the costs and benefits of these experiences individually, we know little about how they may influence one another. The current study examined competing hypotheses relating discrimination and components of ERI (i.e., exploration, resolution, affirmation) among a sample of Mexican-origin adolescent mothers (N = 181; M_age at Wave 1 = 16.83, SD = 1.01) across six waves of data. Findings revealed that within-person changes in discrimination predicted subsequent ERI resolution and affirmation; however, ERI did not predict subsequent discrimination. Between-person effects of discrimination on affirmation were significant. Our findings underscore the importance of discrimination experiences in shaping Mexican-origin adolescent mothers’ normative developmental competencies.     

An Entity Theory of Intelligence Predicts Higher Cortisol Levels When High School Grades Are Declining

Grades often decline during the high school transition, creating stress. The present research integrates the biopsychosocial model of challenge and threat with the implicit theories model to understand who shows maladaptive stress responses. A diary study measured declines in grades in the first few months of high school: salivary cortisol (N = 360 students, N = 3,045 observations) and daily stress appraisals (N = 499 students, N = 3,854 observations). Students who reported an entity theory of intelligence (i.e., the belief that intelligence is fixed) showed higher cortisol when grades were declining. Moreover, daily academic stressors showed a different lingering effect on the next day's cortisol for those with different implicit theories. Findings support a process model through which beliefs affect biological stress responses during difficult adolescent transitions.     

Delinking rhetorics of neoliberalism: An analysis of South American leftist presidents’ speeches

We analyze the so-called Socialism of the twenty-first century in which nine South American governments turned to the left over the last 15 years. This South American socialist turn is seen as a delinking from the logics of dependency and pure neoliberalism. To explore the rhetorics that underlie this delinking process, we conducted both a macroanalysis and an intradiscursive rhetorical analysis of the inauguration and most significant speeches of all of the leftist South American presidents elected after 1999. We claim that a common critique of neoliberalism underlies the South American presidents’ speeches, which manifests through specific rhetorics concerning participatory democracy, social inclusion, and environmental protection. When they became transnational, these delinking rhetorics crafted a decolonial critique that calls for more indigenous models of development.     

Exploring the effects of substituting basketball players in high-level teams

Substituting basketball players during competition is a key process to optimise collective performance. Available research on this topic is scarce, probably due to the difficulty in isolating these effects; thus, the aim of this study was to identify the temporal effects of substitutions in basketball (Spanish professional basketball league). The sample was composed of 1118 substitutions gathered from 21 basketball games. The analysed variables were coach-controlled (player and team’s personal fouls, player in and player out roles, player’s in and out minutes on-court and timeout situation); on-court (foul committed, free throws, 2- and 3-point field-goal effectiveness) and situational variables (scoreline, quality of opposition, game location and game quarter). The results showed positive scoring performances after the substitution for all the analyses. During the first quarter, there were significant effects for fouls committed, scoreline and game location after the substitution. The player’s out personal fouls, free-throw effectiveness, player in, minutes on-court player in, timeout situation and 3-point field-goal effectiveness were significant during the second quarter. The team’s personal fouls, game location, and scoreline were identified as important in the third quarter. The fourth quarter did not show significant effects on the independent variables. Current findings allow optimising coaches’ plans and team management of on-court and bench players throughout the game.     

Effectiveness during ball screens in elite basketball games

Ball screens are one of the most frequently used tactical behaviour in elite basketball games. The aim of the present study was to identify their predictors of success related to time, space, players, and tasks performed. The sample was composed of 818 ball screens corresponding to 20 close games (mean differences in score of 3.1 ± 0.8 points) randomly selected from the playoff games of the Spanish Basketball League (2008–2011). Classification tree analysis (CHAID) was used to analyse which variable or combination of variables, better predicts effectiveness during ball screens. The main results allowed identifying interactions with dribbler actions after the screen and the orientation of the screen on the ball. The results showed no interaction with game quarter and quarter minute temporal-related variables in both analyses. The present findings allow improving coaches’ strategic plans that involve selecting the most appropriate offensive approach when performing ball screens.     

Differential Susceptibility in Early Literacy Instruction Through Computer Games: The Role of the Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene (DRD4)

Not every child seems equally susceptible to the same parental, educational, or environmental influences even if cognitive level is similar. This study is the first randomized controlled trial to apply the differential susceptibility paradigm to education in relation to children's genotype and early literacy skills. A randomized pretest–posttest control group design was used to examine the effects of the Intelligent Tutoring System Living Letters. Two intervention groups were created, 1 receiving feedback and 1 completing the program without feedback, and 1 control group. Carriers of the long variant of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4 7‐repeat) profited most from the computer program with positive feedback, whereas they performed at the lowest level of early literacy skills in the absence of such feedback. Our findings suggest that behind modest overall educational intervention effects a strong effect on a subgroup of susceptible children may be hidden.